When the mud
that devoured Montecito oozed onto Coast Village Road, business at Richie the
Barber, like at dozens of its neighbors, vanished.

Jamie Slone and Richie the Barber

“We didn’t
know what we were going to do, we didn’t have a game plan,” says the man who
goes simply by Richie, who launched what’s become one of Santa Barbara’s most
popular barber shops in 2010. With no time frame, still, as to when storefronts
along the popular thoroughfare will be able to reopen, “we thought we’d just
have to wait it out,” he says.

Meantime, up
the road in Santa Barbara, Jamie Slone’s business was hurting badly, too, and
for a while. “During the fires, smoke suffocated the local area, nobody wanted
to go out, nobody wanted to come up [from L.A.],” says Mr. Slone, who launched
Jamie Slone Wines in 2014 and who runs one of the handful of upscale tasting
rooms in the El Presidio neighborhood.

“We got a
little breather over New Year’s, a teaser,” he continues. “But then this awful
mudslide disaster hit, and it’s been ‘game over’ ever since.”

There’s
little that connected these local businesses just a few weeks ago. Richie the
Barber and Jamie, the vintner, didn’t know each other. But then natural
disaster struck them both. And it wouldtake the ingenious inkling of a mutual friend – “Brandon Arlington from
CDB Group – love him!” says Mr. Slone – to bring them together and create
opportunity for both.

For the past week, Richie’s has been running a pop-up barber shop inside Mr.
Slone’s tasting room. With chairs borrowed from a nearby business, the six
barbers who work regularly at Richie’s have been back at work, welcoming
clients and trimming hair. “Many of our regulars are displaced, and a lot of
people aren’t aware yet that we’re here,” says Richie the Barber, so business
is not what it used to be. The team – Richie, Alexis, Erin, Stephanie, Jessica
and Martine, all Santa Barbara residents – have been doing about 25 to 30
haircuts a day, almost half the 45 to 50 they usually do. Under the
circumstances, though, it’s a boon nonetheless.

“The way
everything’s worked out, it’s perfect,” says the barber.

Mr. Slone
calls it a simple case of “people helping people,” something that seems extra
special in Santa Barbara, “where the degrees of separation between people are
so small,” he says.

Jamie Slone
Wines has given up its Private Reserve Room for the Richie’s team -- an elegant,
glass-enclosed space behind the bar where Mr. Slone offers by-appointment
tastings and a variety of wine education classes and experiences. But the
temporary barber shop has generated unexpected benefits for the winery, too, as
many who’ve come in for a trim stick around for a sip.

“People have
been very gracious,” says Mr. Slone. “They come early and taste, or they’ll buy
wines to take home. They discover what we do!” Jamie Slone Wines produces about
1000 cases of locally sourced wines like sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot
noir and cabernet sauvignon, as well as several blends; they’re made by
celebrated winemaker, Steve Clifton.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

Jamie Slone, center, and members of the Richie the Barber team

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

“Overall,
though, this is about doing something that feels good for our community,” says
Mr. Slone, who’s had other Montecito businesses approach him about creating
similar opportunities. “There’s a need for more of this kind of thing right
now.”

And on a
personal level, Mr. Slone’s found someone new to do his hair. “Turns out, I’ve
been missing out on the Richie’s experience!” he says, with a laugh. “I’m
definitely a fan moving forward.”

Richie’s Barber
Shop inside Jamie Slone Wines is currently open seven days a week from 10am to
6pm.

Bottlest
Winery, Bar & Bistro in Buellton has created two limited edition wines
aimed directly at fundraising for fire and mudslide victims. The “Rise” wines –
a chardonnay and a cabernet sauvignon – sell for $20, with $15 from each sale
earmarked for Direct Relief. The well-known Goleta-based aid group with
remarkable international reach has had staff on the ground since early
December, mobilizing support, providing free vaccines and working alongside the
Red Cross and Santa Barbara County’s Public Health and Emergency Services
Departments.

“We consider
all of Santa Barbara County our local community,” says Bart Jones, general
manager at Botllest. “We just felt an obligation to do anything we could to
help out. And what better way to do that than by doing what we specialize in?”

The Bottlest
team describes the 2014 chardonnay as medium-bodied, fruity and off-dry, with
moderate oak; the 2014 cab is full-bodied, earthy and spicy, with “dark
chocolate notes.” Both wines feature a rising Phoenix on their labels to
signify Santa Barbara’s inevitable rise from these tragedies. They can be
purchased in person (35 Industrial Way in Buellton) or online. The wines went on sale on
Sunday, January 14.

In October,
Bottlest produced a limited run of “California Strong” wines to benefit
recovery efforts after the wildfires in Napa and Sonoma. As part of Terravant
Wine Company, the largest winemaking facility in Santa Barbara County, Bottlest
allows consumers to custom craft their own wine and design their own label; the
onsite restaurant provides some of the very best dining in the Santa Ynez
Valley.

About Me

Welcome to the online home of Gabe Saglie. Gabe is Senior Editor for Travelzoo and a respected travel contributor for dozens of TV news programs and national shows. Gabe is also a longtime wine and food writer based in Santa Barbara, California, where he lives with his wife, two boys and daughter.